Morning Has Broken

@sixsteps268

HE GAVE ME my Toshiba Satellite laptop, upon
which I hack away religiously. He gave me my Samsung Galaxy S5 -- with which I
have created a series of qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine health
talks for Dr. Chandler Stump, Practitioner of Chinese Medicine at Sea Turtle Wellness, Barcelona, Spain. Dr.
Chandler is my personal doctor. I go to her for acupuncture, detoxification,
qigong training, Western pharmaceutical drug withdrawal therapy, and
psychology. Every Monday morning, without fail.

And I am as good as new. For Morning Has Broken. Like the first morning.
-- Cat Stevens

"And if I ever close my eyes, I won't have
to cry no more. And if I ever lose my legs, I won't have to walk no more."

For I'm being followed by a MoonShadow.

What are you being followed by this morning?

Who woke you up with a smile in your heart?

Who gave you that unshakable confidence to take
on the world, again?

Who gave you a Lionheart to brave the night, the darkness, your sorrow and
the unfathomable troubles of our mortal world?

Please share your thoughts. Dr. Chandler and I
would dearly love to hear from you.

Postscript

"Several years ago, Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia pediatric physician Allison Ballantine addressed the class of graduating medical
students at my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, where she
taught. Ballantine sent a transcript of her commencement speech to the
wonderful Tara Brach, who read an excerpt from it on an episode of her indispensable mindfulness podcast.

"Coming from anyone, Ballantine’s words are
a simple yet powerful reminder that unless we live with presence, we aren’t living at all. Coming from someone
whose daily task is to protect the sanctity of life against the demands of
death, they are nothing short of an awakening:

We become so accustomed to life on the hamster
wheel of achievement and approval that we just forget. We scamper on and
on, chasing the ephemeral promises of “someday…” or “if only I…”

Growing up, I learned a hard lesson about how
that hamster wheel could cheat us.

My father was a pediatric surgeon, with
tremendous enthusiasm and drive to succeed that encompassed his work, his
family, and his friendships. He was a huge influence in my life — he taught me
the value of hard work and the satisfaction of a job done right. But on a
winter day when he was driving home from the hospital where he worked, his car
slid on a patch of black ice, hitting a telephone pole on the driver’s side,
killing him instantly.

He was forty-eight and I was eighteen.

[…]

This … serves as a reminder that I cannot live
my life on the hamster wheel, waiting for “someday…” or “if only I…”

[…]

What you have is in the present moment, and it
is unfathomably precious.